Church Bell Tower (April contest - Light Fantastic)

[Edeehem]

I am currently working on my entry for Blender Battle's Monthly contest. The theme, to sum it up quickly is showing the importance and use of light in a scene to set a mood and emotion to the piece. Post pro is expected (if even recommended). I started thinking and researching the different moods in pictures caused by light and I came with a few designs. One of which I started but gave up in favor of the idea of making a church bell tower with the sun behind creating a "contrejour" effect and adding the lens flare for a more realistic feel. I googled reference pictures for the building I had in mind and came across a greek bell tower. So far I am about done with the main modeling and texturing of the tower and I am going to start the bells and ropes attached to them. The lighting is not completely tweaked to my satisfaction though.(you can check out the official thread here : http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread?t=63947 )


This is a test render with post pro to see what my concept will look like. There are a few errors in the textures here and there but they are already fixed (but not rendered) The white mortar/paint is UV mapped and textured using a combination of mayang textures and gimpshop.

Here is the unmodified render:


The trees are made using Lsystem and I am rather pleased with them but I feel their position is not entirely the way i want. They are each on the side of the church but I can't decide if I should keep them that way for composition purpose. From the angle and details you can't see which way the church building is, in front of the tower or behind it so I currently working on that. Maybe I should unzoom the shot a bit to cover the area over the entry or something similar to the second reference picture.

Reference picture 1:
http://www.icarus.gen.nz/archive/gal.../belltower.jpg and
Reference picture 2:
http://www.olympicholidays.com/image...K%20Church.jpg

Comments and suggestions are welcome of course
Slep

[Edeehem]

I looked up "contrejour" type images on google to get a better feel for the lighting and dark/light feeling of the pictures. My intuition was correct and reducing the light of the tower improves the mood of it. The lensflare and softglow come out better in post pro too since the tower is not as white and bright.

I have also added the bells and ropes to the model and added the appropriate materials (which don't need to be extremely detailed and realistic due to the angle, distance and lighting of the shot). The render time for this is actually fairly quick (about 5-10 min) using Ambient occlusion for the low lighting (otherwise it would only be shadow). Antialiasing is currently on 8 and a very slight gausian blur is added with the gimp (in addition to softglow and lensflare and other minor tweaks).


unmoddified render: http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/595...ltower48wj.jpg

[Felix_Kütt]

well id say its better but just slightly more bright would be good ^^

[Streen]

The mesh seems to me to be a little too dark. So dark it makes it hard to see. Brighten it up just a tad.

[foCus]

I'd say that it looks nice as it is , it should be that dark when you are looking at the sun, or taking pictures at it.

Well done!

Have a nice day / foCus

[Edeehem]

Thanks for the replies guys. The brightness of the image must be slightly different on each of your monitors and with the ambient light in your room at the moment you looked at it so that is probably responsible for the different opinions concerning that but due to 2 out of 3 comments saying a tad brighter would be better I think I'll add "tad" more light but still keep the "contrejour" contrast of the picture.

I am getting satisfied with the post pro I add to the image and doing it several times for each test render helps me to hone that skill.

Right now I am looking for more details that will improve the image and make it better. If you have any ideas I would definitely liked to hear them. I am considering adding a few birds either in the sky, on the branches or the tower itself. I might add details to the bells.

Composition wise, I am figuring out the best position for the sun behind the cross. I might make it slighly higher and/or to the right to see if it looks better but I'm still thinking about it.

Thanks for the replies guys and of course, if you have time, participate in this fun contest
Slep

[ajc158]

Well, it looks nice, but I'd try and edit those trees so they look a little less l-systemy (real trees tend not to curve like that)

The contrast looks about right to me.

As for details, I think you have pretty much got it covered.

Alex

[Edeehem]

Thanks for the comments. I've done a small update. I changed the rotation of the bells but they are not final as I want to add more detail to the area. It is more of a test. I have also reshapped the top of the trees to make them straighter as advised. I have also brightened the scene up a "tad". If it's still too dark then maybe reduce your ambient lighting in your room and brighten your screen up. I can't really adapt to all the monitors on the planet though...I have also changed the position of the sun compared to the cross and I think I have found a satisfactory location relative to it. I am planning to continue tweaking the trees a bit, the bells and maybe birds. I have also updated the render size to the contest specifications.

[Yakyak]

This is very, very great. I think both pictures are realistic, because the sun burns everything in real photo, so the choice is for the brightness of the remaining part of the scene.
Continue like this, it's wonderfull !

[Edeehem]

Thanks Yakyak. I am 99% finished now I just need to get the answer from a PM to another user about the finishing touches such as the borders and titles I am adding to my entry. I will post it as soon as I can.
On the other hand I have continued tweaking the tree tops and made the tips straighter. I have also reposition the ropes to a side lever on the sides (rather than attached to the "hammer" inside the bells because it would make sense that the bells were swinging if it was attached that way). I have also added nice curving brass attaches over the bells themselves that give out a smooth dark outline on the bright sun adding exactly the effect I was hopping they would ( I really should use these curve guides more often).

Thanks for the quick and very usefull comments for the final tweaks on this image to all of you who took the time and drop a post.
Slep

[Edeehem]

I have done a few minor tweaks and changes. I will post the final result when I submit the entry for the contest. That's when I'll know this project is completely finished. So, just a few more days then.

See ya then
Slep

[Edeehem]

I have posted the complete version in the Final Project section:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=66129